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nest failure probably from cold weather



Hello, all. On Sunday, 4/13, I watched a pair of Carolina Wrens busily
finishing up a nest in a pottery bird bottle on the southeast side of my
house. I was surprised because I hadn't seen fledglings from another
nest on the north side of my house that the wrens occupied in late March
and early April. When I checked the north nest I found 4 dead
featherless chicks inside. Their eyes were closed. There was a slight
odor. I am guessing the chicks died during that intense Monday-Friday
cold wave last week. 
I removed the failed nest. The nest lining consisted of long
light-colored hairs that I think came from one of my dogs; two small
feathers, one of which looked like it might have come from a Mourning
Dove; two small pieces of what looked like cellophane (in lieu of
snakeskin?); and, most interesting, a hunk of hair that was
brindle-colored on the shaft (black and tan) and light gray or
white-tipped. Racoon? Or what? The loss of this hunk of hair must have
been painful to the creature that donated it, if it was alive! I have
read on this list about titmice plucking hair from sleeping raccoons. Do
wrens do the same?
Last summer in the drought the wrens produced only 2 broods in my yard,
one early and one late -- the lowest number since I've paid attention. I
usually see about 3 broods right around my house, and in the summer of
2001 I believe there were 4 broods. That year I found I could get wrens
to renest in the same structure if I cleaned out the old nest
immediately after chicks fledged. The adults would begin the next nest
in the same structure about one week later. In a good year one bird
bottle is a wren factory!
Ginger Travis
Orange Co., N.C.